A more thorough explanation:

An official-capacity suit is a type of lawsuit that is filed against one or more individual state employees, but the real party in interest is the state or a local government. This means that the lawsuit is actually against the government, but it is brought against individual employees who are acting on behalf of the government.

For example, if a person wants to sue a state government for violating their civil rights, they may file an official-capacity suit against a state employee who was involved in the violation. However, the lawsuit is actually against the state government, and any damages awarded would be paid by the government.

Official-capacity suits are different from personal-capacity suits, which are actions to impose personal, individual liability on a government officer.

One example of an official-capacity suit is a lawsuit filed against a police officer for using excessive force during an arrest. The lawsuit may name the officer as a defendant, but the real party in interest is the police department or the city government.

Another example is a lawsuit filed against a state agency for failing to provide adequate services to people with disabilities. The lawsuit may name individual employees of the agency as defendants, but the real party in interest is the state government.